SUKKUR: Activists of Sindh United Party, various nationalist groups and civil society organisations took out a rally from the hunger strike camp outside the local press club on Sunday at the end of the 72-hour protest for the recovery of what is being described as “victims of enforced disappearance”.
The rally was led by Sorath Lohar, the deputy convener of the Voice for Missing Persons of Sindh (VMPS) that has organised the ongoing campaign, and another activist, Nayab Sarkash.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Human Rights Coordination Council (HRCC) and almost all Sindh-based nationalist groups have extended their support to the campaign. Several literary organisations, including Sindhi Adabi Sangat, have also joined in the campaign while several political parties and associations of lawyers, teachers and students have expressed solidarity with the protesters.
Sukkur Development Alliance (SDA) chairman Haji Mohammad Jawed Memon visited the camp on Sunday and expressed his support for the cause.
The rally passed through Mission Road, Queens Road, Minara Road and several other arteries before returning to the press club, where Sorath Lohar and Nayab Sarkash spoke to them.They condemned “enforce disappearance of more than 160 activists over the past few years” and demanded an immediate end to the practice. They demanded immediate recovery of the victims, and said if any of them was found involved in an offence, he should be produced in a court of law.
Ms Lohar said that the affected families believed that their loved ones were in the custody of some security agencies, which were not ready to disclose their whereabouts. Nor were they ready to set them free or produce them in a court of law.
She said the ongoing campaign would continue till the recovery of all such victims.
It was announced that a march to Islamabad would be organised if the missing persons were not recovered before the Eidul Fitr.
Others who spoke included Lala Asad Pathan, Sarmad Mirani, Hakeem Zangejo, Deedar Mirani, Sufi Mumtaz, Ghulam Mustafa Phulpoto, Waheed Khoso, Sikandar Magsi, Latif Dino Shaikh, Shabbir Jamali, Yameen Mirani, Ghulam Nabi Ghanghro and Sattar Zangejo.
Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2018
